A Maine law that increases charges for assaults on medical and nonmedical staff while providing emergency medical care appears to have done very little, Portland Press Herald reported July 14.
The new law, LD 1119, was passed in July 2023 and it increases charges for an assault on emergency department personnel to a felony, punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine.
There were 12 charges of "assault on an emergency medical provider" in 2024, on track to match 2023's 27 charges and 2022's 25 charges. Prior to the new law, healthcare workers filed 167 intentional injury lost-time claims in the first 7 months of 2023, compared with114 filed in the first 4 months after the law took effect.
"I don't think anybody is going into the hospital going, 'Well, I better not act out today because L.D. 1119 is in effect," Joe Bragg, RN, a nursing supervisor at Down East Community Hospital in Machias, Maine, told the Press. "It doesn't change anything. If violence is going to happen, it's going to happen."
The law was intended to help law enforcement and prosecutors hold people accountable for their behavior. However, there has not been an increase in the number of charges since the law was passed, despite local systems reporting hundreds of cases of violence at their hospitals every month.
Some patient advocates are concerned that it hasn't helped deter violence and adversely affects those with mental health issues. People brought to the emergency department in crisis are at higher risk of lashing out.
Several other states have considered enacting similar laws to increase legal penalties with violence in hospitals. Ohio nurses are advocating for a law that would increase penalties for using bodily fluids as a weapon against healthcare workers. California is also considering a law that would increase punishments for assaulting a healthcare worker.